Report: Meeting planners seeking shorter, smaller events

San Diego—U.S. businesses are planning shorter, smaller meetings than before the 2008 recession, according to a report from Active Network, an events technology provider.
The study, “Event Trends: 2008-2012,” was based on meeting planning patterns and electronic requests for proposals in Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando, Fla. Average monthly unique eRFPs across the five cities were up 6% in the first 10 months of last year compared with the same period in 2008. Total eRFPs for the first 10 months of last year were up 46% over the recessionary low mark in 2009, the report said.
The study found increased interest in smaller meetings, with half of all 2012 eRFPs being for meetings with fewer than 50 people, a 5% increase compared with 2008. The number of events with 51 to 100 attendees fell by 2% compared with 2008; and the number of events with 101 to 250 attendees fell by 3%, the report said.
One-day events in 2012 represented 35% of eRFPs, up 14% from 2008, the report found. Two- and three-day events fell from 46% of eRFPs in 2008 to 40% in 2012.